A Golden Tear: Daniele Sauvageau's Journey to Olympic Gold

February 21, 2002. A golden day in the annals of Canadian hockey. Canada's National Women's Hockey Team was up against their arch-rivals, Team U.S.A., in the only game that had ever mattered, for the only prize they had ever wanted. Olympic Gold. Four years earlier, in Nagano, Japan, they had reached for this holiest of grails in international sport and come up short. But not this time. And not in this place. Meeting in Salt Lake City on American home ice, the Canadians were determined to overcome an 1-8 win-loss record to Team U.S.A. and reclaim ownership of their game.
And standing calmly behind the bench in this classic march to the pinnacle of sport was Danièle Sauvageau, who has become one of the most intriguing and inspiring people in sport today. Raised in the hockey-mad province of Quebec, where the sport is akin to religion, she pursued a career in policing, first with the RCMP, then with the Montreal Urban Police. This, at the same time as she was rising in the ranks as a hockey coach.
Girls didn't play hockey much in the 1970s and '80s, let alone coach, nor did they often bust a car full of drug dealers, yet Danièle overcame the prejudices of her peers with the same quiet determination and attention to detail that have become her trademarks.
Written in co-operation with Danièle Sauvageau, Team Canada head coach, A Golden Tear takes us behind the scenes of a fascinating Journey to Olympic Gold.